Aaron's Rod

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 629K words
Chapters: 63

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Aaron's Rod by D. H. LawrenceAuthor: Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 2003

Editor's review

Aaron's Rod is a novel by D. H. Lawrence that follows the protagonist Aaron's life-changing turn, touching on marriage, escape, music, and self-discovery. Lawrence's writing has always emphasized the friction between inner impulses and social norms, and this book continues that focus: the protagonist chooses to leave his established life behind and turns to music for sustenance, meeting, conversing, and clashing with various people along the way, in a narrative with a strong flavor of intellectual debate. Its strength lies in its sustained questioning of individual freedom and dependence, and in Lawrence's characteristic intuitive psychological portrayal; readers may find it discursive and unevenly paced, but that is precisely what makes it suited to readers willing to think alongside the characters. This is the Project Gutenberg English public-domain electronic text, suitable as extended reading within Lawrence's body of work; reading it with some knowledge of his style is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read Lawrence's major works and want to expand their reading
Those interested in the theme of self-discovery in modernist fiction
Literary readers concerned with marriage, art, and individual freedom
English-language readers who can accept discursive narrative and a slower pace

Not a good fit for

Readers new to Lawrence who hope to start with a lighter work
Readers who prefer strong plot momentum and tight structure
Readers with limited English reading stamina who are easily put off by lengthy discussion

Reading tips

Learn about Lawrence's era and creative background first; this makes his concerns easier to grasp.
Treat the protagonist's journey as a thread of intellectual change, tracing his circumstances and choices stage by stage.
When you encounter long passages of discussion, mark them and return after finishing the chapter to avoid losing momentum.
Compare with Lawrence's other novels to observe continuities and changes in characterization and themes.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

I haven't read any other Lawrence works. Can I start with this one?

You can, but the book is quite discursive and not especially brisk, so it may not be the friendliest introduction. To familiarize yourself with Lawrence's style first, you might read one of his more widely discussed works, then return to this book; the themes and narrative approach will be easier to understand.

What themes does this book mainly address?

Based on the work's content and public-domain common knowledge, the book follows the protagonist as he leaves his former life and turns to music, touching on marriage, individual freedom, artistic pursuit, and social constraints. The narrative includes extensive dialogue and intellectual debate; the focus is not on plot suspense but on the characters' inner states and conflicts of ideas.

Is the electronic edition the original English text, and how difficult is it?

The information indicates that this is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, in English, i.e. the original English text. Lawrence's sentences are long and his discussion dense, making it more difficult than ordinary popular fiction; it is recommended for readers with a good foundation in English reading, with a translation for comparison if needed.

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About the author

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930 Author

D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Lawrence, 1885–1930) was an English novelist, poet and essayist. The library holds 25 of his works, including the novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and The Lost Girl, the short-story collections The Prussian Officer and England, My England, and the travel book Twilight in Italy. His writing often draws on mining and rural life and focuses on relations between men and women, class, and the pressure modern civilization places on individual vitality, with a candid style that is sensuous and psychologically searching, at once poetic and forceful. Because his work boldly touched on desire and social taboo, he was controversial in his lifetime and is now regarded as a major voice in twentieth-century English literature. Detailed information beyond his works is limited, so this note relies on the available works and established common knowledge.